Railroaders' Nostalgia > End of an Era?

Caltrain engineer Gary Ellison will be retiring tomorrow, July 27.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong (are you there Ed?) but I believe Gary is the last remaining SP engineer to still be with Caltrain.  In 1992 when Amtrak assumed commute operations from SP, a number of engineers and conductors switched over to Amtrak.  In 2011 when Transit America took over, many of those remaining switched over to them.  I don't know how many SP conductors remain, but I believe Gary is last SP engineer.  The end of an era.  

Good luck Gary!  I hope you enjoy many happy years of leisure or doing whatever you want to do.  As I've said to others, it'll be the best job you ever had.  

Thanks for posting that Mike! I'd been wondering if there were any of the old SP engineers still working on Caltrain. Most definitely the end of an era! Gary's one of the many SP good guys that made it a pleasure to work on the Coast! I wish him the best in his well deserved retirement years. I think he'll enjoy them as much as I have! 

Good luck for a long well=deserved retirement. I hope he can do all the things he thought about wanting to do while working.

That makes me feel even older.  Best wishes to Gary.

Yep Mike, Jordy Coleman confirmed that Gary is the Last of the Mohicans. And (young?) Jordy is now the griever! Dianna Bowden, the senior now should be the #1 Caltrain E, with 23 or 24 years service.

Back in the mid-1990's, Gary used to come to work in the afternoon looking like an unwashed hobo, because he invariably showed up directly from his home remodeling project, which was minus most plumbing. He and I spent considerable time comparing our respective remodeling projects. One day I came into the engineers change room with nasty lime chemical burns on my knees and shins after the previous day's concrete pour gone awry. Gary was sitting in "Tommy Grace's" broken down lounger, and I decided to illustrate the extent of my stupidity-induced injuries by dropping my pants. As I did this, Glen King, then our sole remaining "steam man", wandered in, cast a quick glance our way, and made a bee line for the locker room. Glen always looked at us kinda funny after that.

You made it, Gary! Good on ya!

E. O. Gibson
I wonder if Gary ever finished his remodeling project. I haven't.

Great story Ed. Thanks for making it official. Absolutely the end of an era at Caltrain.
Congratulations to Deanna as the new #1.

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